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Ray startled awake with the feeling that something was crawling on his chest. He quickly scratched and brushed at his naked chest in a desperate attempt to knock whatever was crawling on him off, but the more he frantically moved to relieve the strange feeling the more he realized that there was nothing actually crawling on him.
“Gideon, a little light please,” Ray called out.
“Absolutely, Mr. Palmer.”
When light illuminated his room again, he looked down at his chest and froze speechless when he saw that he indeed didn’t have anything crawling on him. What he did have were very faint, blue letters that spelled a name right over the skin where his heart lied underneath.
“This can’t be. No way,” Ray muttered. “Gideon, please tell me this is all a dream, or some crazy time-travel side effect.”
“Unfortunately, Mr. Palmer, this is not a side effect of extensive time-traveling or a dream. It seems you have experienced your soul-mate reveal.”
That wasn’t the answer he had hoped for, nor was it the name that he had ever expected to show up on his body one day.
Leonard Nathaniel Snart.
The name was drawn across in such an elegant writing that it belied the fact that his soulmate was apparently a criminal who most of the time looked like he was three seconds away from strangling him. He was pretty sure he wasn’t going to be able to sleep now that this had happened.
He’d of course known about soulmates all his life. His mother and father, though they weren’t soulmates had always encouraged him and his brother to always try and seek their soulmates out. They always said even if they didn’t find their soulmate they would find someone who was just as good. That’s why he never bothered to keep looking when he’d met Anna. She was everything he could’ve wanted in a wife or partner for life. He of course never stopped hoping that maybe her name would appear on his skin one day because as a man of science he would always wonder who his soulmate was and whether they were looking for him too. When Anna had died he was lost, and he hoped that finding his soulmate might repair the hole Anna’s death had left. When Felicity came along he had a small hope, but that was quickly dashed too when it never appeared.
But now he knew just who his soulmate was, and the feelings he was experiencing were so unlike what he’d heard it would be like.
“Gideon, you can’t tell anyone about this—even Rip,” Ray urged the A.I.
“As you wish, Mr. Palmer.”
Ray took a few deep breaths before he realized that he needed to get out of his room for a bit and walk around.
He found his discarded shirt and pants on the floor and quickly put them back on before leaving his room and starting his aimless walk around the Waverider.
The itchy feeling of the mark hadn’t faded in the slightest since he’d first woken up to it, and if all the information he’d read on it was true, the feeling wasn’t going to fade at all for a few days. The mark craved touch by his soulmate since they were in such close proximity to one another. He only wondered why it took so long for the mark to appear now since he’d been on the Waverider for a decent period of time.
But it had just hit him that if he had his soul-mark then did Snart get his too?
He hadn’t been paying attention and before he could continue his silent panic he collided with something that sent him reeling back. When he looked at what it was he ran into something became someone, and that someone was ironically Leonard Snart who looked more irritable than usual if that was possible.
“Watch where you’re going, Raymond,” he barked, and Ray winced.
The first thing he does when he discovers who his soulmate is, is run right into him and piss them off more than already seemed to naturally be. Just his luck.
The man’s name on his chest though was tingling like crazy most likely from the very abrupt contact the two shared. Being so close to each other though the feeling in his chest was just waiting to burst almost as if it was anticipating the next touch between the two of them.
“Sorry, Len—I mean, Snart,” he quickly corrected.
Snart shot him a questioning glare, and Ray felt like his look was going to burn a hole through him. God, this whole soul-mark thing was going to be how he died.
“I’m going to regret asking this, but what’s going on, Raymond?”
Ray’s felt his entire body freeze up at the question. How did Snart not know what was wrong? Did he not have a soul-mark on his body too? There was no way there was another Leonard Snart running around the places they had been, so Snart had to be the one that he was destined to be tied to.
Ray swallowed again, and looked shook his head, offering a simple smile to hopefully alleviate the hardening look he was getting from the man.
“Oh—ahh—nothing. I was just taking a walk around the ship to clear my head.”
Ray didn’t know why his traitorous brain decided to use this opportunity as a good time to remind him that he did find Leonard Snart attractive, but he was really starting to think everything in this world, timeline, or whatever was conspiring against him. He was still dressed in his usual black everything: jacket, pants, and boots. In addition, he still looked as if he was carrying around a perpetual chip on his shoulder. But Ray’s mind had decided to remind him that Leonard Snart was the pinnacle of attraction to him as far as men went. All the looks they threw back and forth at each other didn’t help, especially when Snart would pin Ray with those cold, blue eyes of his.
“Mighty late to be taking a walk around the ship, Raymond. Plus you’re not exactly someone I pegged for a late-night stroller.”
Ray shrugged, and tried to side-step the man, but Snart stuck a hand out and blocked off his escape route.
“Not yet, Raymond. It looks like you’ve got something to say.”
Ray regarded Snart carefully, trying his best to see if he could read the man, but as usual Leonard Snart was a complete and total enigma. That probably didn’t exactly help with Ray’s growing attraction to the man. He was always intrigued by things his brain couldn’t comprehend.
“Nope. Nothing really. I’ll—uh—just head back to my room now,” he nervously replied before making his way back to his room. He definitely wouldn’t call it fleeing. He wasn’t that big of a coward.
When the door behind him closed he let out a breath he’d been holding in since he’d left Snart standing in the hallway. He was bothered by how Snart seemed to know something was bothering him. He wasn’t good at hiding his emotions though so he figured that was most likely how Snart was able to figure that something was off with him.
Whatever it was, the name etched into his skin still was making itself known as the sensation continued to linger with no signs of dulling anytime soon. He wasn’t sure how it was going to fade, and how or when he was going to tell Snart. Or if he would ever tell him.
Clearly he wasn’t going to get the walk he wanted to clear his head, so the best he could hope for now was that sleep would come sooner than later. He sighed and disrobed down to his boxers again and crawled back underneath the blanket on his bed, turning his back to the door and closing his eyes.
Almost immediately he heard the door open and he felt the sensation on his chest grow, signaling who it was that was standing in his room now.
Ray was careful to pull the blanket up with him as he sat up to see Snart standing in his room, a cautious gaze still plastered on the man’s face.
“Snart? I thought we were done?” Ray muttered.
“I’ve gotta say, Raymond, I’m disappointed that you for once didn’t do you whole rambling routine,” Snart chastised as he leaned against the wall behind him.
“Wait, I don’t ramble… or do I?” He started to think back to situations where he might’ve been perceived as rambling, and for the most part he thought he had remained somewhat on topic, maybe occasionally throwing in an extra fact or two here and there.
“Of course you ramble, Raymond. And of course the one time I actually want you to keep talking is the one time you decide to keep your mouth shut.”
He stalked closer and Ray held closer to the blanket for fear that it would fall and reveal Snart’s name scrawled on his chest.
“What do you want, Snart?” he asked.
The corner of Snart’s lips quirked into a tiny, hesitant smirk, like he was enjoying how flustered and caught off-guard Ray was but still casing every inch of the room like something could happen.
“I want you to tell me the truth about what it was that had you so flustered back there,” he commanded.
Ray felt like throat was drying up, and every step closer that Snart got made the feeling worse. It was definitely looking like Snart was on to him, or at least onto something.
“I told you, I was fine. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Snart’s smirk seemed to dissipate in response, and the cold, even glance returned in its place. Snart was standing only a few feet away from Ray now, and despite not being completely naked, Ray felt a lot more exposed than he ever had before.
“You sure it doesn’t have anything to do with these ridiculous marks that appeared on your body?” Snart pointed out.
Ray’s eyes went wide and that freezing feeling returned in his body. His grip on the blanket he was holding onto tightened. For some reason he didn’t want to expose the soul-mate mark to him yet. Maybe it was because he was still in disbelief that Snart would have a similar scrawl drawn on him somewhere on his body.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ray answered.
The look Snart had shot him that irritated look with a huff that somehow made Ray feel stupid, something that no one really could do except him apparently. Slowly, Snart lifted the hem of his shirt, and Ray practically froze when he saw faint red letters etched into the skin that rested right above his hips.
“Raymond Ephraim Palmer,” he said coolly. Ray felt a chill at the way Snart said his name so—simply—like it was almost second nature to use his full name like that. The mark on his chest though warmed almost affectionately at the mention of his full name. It shouldn’t have been nearly as attractive or thrilling as it was. “The name showed up right as I was sharing a drink with Mick and Sara. Now show me yours.”
Ray swallowed one more time before letting the blanket in his hands slip free and turning to expose his mostly naked body and mark to the man. Snart drew closer to him and stopped when he was beside the bed and close up, not at all mindful of Ray’s apparent apprehension at being so close.
Snart leaned in close to him and examined the marking while Ray did his best to read him, but still couldn’t for some reason.
“Well, Raymond, in some bizarre twist of fate, you and I are apparently cursed to be soulmates.” He made it sound so simple, giving no indication that he was annoyed, angry, or anything minus his use of the word cursed.
“I would’ve told you before in the hallway but…” Ray couldn’t seem to find the right words to say to explain what he was feeling.
“But what?” Snart questioned.
Ray sighed. “Look, Snart, I know I’m not the person you would ever imagine or want as your soulmate. I was willing to not say anything to make it easier for you to pretend that it wasn’t my name scrawled on your hip.”
Snart regarded him carefully with those cold blue eyes again, and Ray felt the mark in his chest tingle harder for some reason. Maybe it was the close proximity of the man who was his soulmate, or maybe it was the fact that Snart was intensely focused again on his name that was spelled across his chest.
“Did I ever say that’s what I wanted, Raymond?” he questioned.
Confusion hit Ray like a slap to the face, and he tilted his head a little a little puzzled that he didn’t get the rejection he was expecting.
“No, you didn’t. But I just figured you would since you’ve never exactly been friendly towards me.”
“Well that’s because you’re a naïve, optimistic idiot.” Ray would’ve been offended by that, but Snart was smirking again, and not just his smirk when he was marginally amused by something. This smirk was like he was actually enjoying something or happy. It at least qualified as the biggest smile Ray had ever seen on him. “But, you’re an interesting person, and I can’t deny that much at least.”
Ray wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say to that. Leonard Snart calling him interesting and not rejecting their apparently soulmate bond wasn’t something he’d expected in the short amount of time he’d had to process all of this.
“Cat got your tongue again, Boy Scout?” Snart teased.
“I—uhh—I don’t know what to say. I wasn’t expecting you to be okay with this.”
“One of these days, Raymond, you’ll stop trying to figure me out.” Without any warning Snart leaned in closer and Ray felt the man’s lips touch his and before Ray knew it he was being kissed and kissing back.
The mark on his chest was burning now as Snart’s lips brushed against his and his tongue slithered its way into his mouth. The feeling was unlike anything he’d ever felt before. It felt almost like a betrayal in some respects to his memory of Anna, but he couldn’t help but crave the kiss more. If Leonard Snart was his soulmate and was willing to give it a shot, he had no choice but to indulge the desire and pull.
Snart’s hands were cold, but he felt a hand slowly drag over his chest where his mark lied, and his body shivered as Snart—no—his soulmate’s hands brushed over his name that would forever be tattooed on Ray’s skin.
When Snart pulled back he looked cocksure and smug like he knew that his kiss was the best that Ray had ever received, and Ray knew he was just grinning stupidly in return. There was a surprising comfortable silence that passed between the two men that felt like a short eternity.
“So, Ephraim, story behind that?” Snart asked simply asked.
“It’s Jewish. I’m half on my mother’s side. She figured we needed some reminder of our heritage. We still celebrate Chanukah though,” Ray explained, realizing that Snart was right and that he did ramble. “Anything special about Nathaniel?”
“Grandfather’s middle name. My old man might’ve been a deadbeat dad, but he did at least show some respect for his old man. Besides, Grandpa was always a bit more fun to be around.”
For some reason that brought a warm smile to Ray’s face imaging a younger Leonard Snart with his grandfather. Despite Snart being a hardened criminal and Ray being—well the total opposite, he was starting to think maybe he could fall for the man.
“So are we really gonna try and make this work, Snart?” Ray asked.
Snart tilted his head back and forth for a bit and shrugged. “Why not. It could be fun, and I’m sure soulmate sex will a lot more satisfying. But if we do this, you’re not gonna keep calling me, Snart. Len is fine for now, Raymond.”
Ray snickered at that. “Alright, Len. So are we gonna tell the rest of the team that we’re soulmates?”
“And risk Savage finding that out and using it against us? Not a chance,” Len pointed out. Ray nodded in understanding. It made sense. Anything like that could be used against the team and not in a good way. “Besides, what we do is our own business and no one else’s.”
Something about that seemed intimate. Ray could get used to the idea of their own business. Two soulmates with their own life that no one else was allowed to know about or be a part of.
“I think I like that,” Ray smiled.
Len gave him another one of those wider smirks before throwing his jacket off and his gaze returning to his usual caustic glance.
“So, plan on making room for me in there, Raymond?”
“Wait, are we really moving this quick? I figured we weren’t ready to do all of that yet?” Ray asked slightly alarmed again.
Len rolled his eyes. “We’re not having sex. At least not yet.” That brought a little bit of relief to Ray, but he was mildly disappointed even though he knew he wasn’t ready for that step quite yet. “Look, Raymond, we’re on a time-traveling ship fighting to save the world. I don’t think there’s gonna be much time to get to know one another, so we might as well use every minute we’ve got.”
Ray nodded and moved aside to make room for Len who crawled into the bedside him easily, discarding his shirt and boots beforehand, and Ray couldn’t take his eyes off his name etched into Len’s skin. He instinctively reached out and rubbed at the skin, and felt his own mark warm in an agreeable response.
“Careful, Raymond. Get to handsy and I’ll think you do want to get down and dirty,” Len teased.
“Sorry. I just—this is—it feels right,” Ray stumbled.
Len continued smirking at that, but didn’t stop Ray from continuing to trace his name on Len’s skin with his fingers.
“So, Boy Scout, tell me about your life, and try not to ramble too much.”
He could get used to Len snarking at him, here in this bed together. Maybe they were the best match for each other. Either way, he and Len were soulmates, and whatever would come, for better or for worse, they’d always have each other, and that brought him comfort.